The unofficial translation of the first-ever Concept Paper, after initiation of the Peace Process, prepared by CPN (Maoist) Supremo Prachanda and presented by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on Nov 16, 2007 to the Political Parties, Civil Society and Media. The analysis from our part is found at the conclusion.

Preamble of the Paper

The serious impediments to peace process and political advancement of Nepal have been accepted by all quarters. The 12-point Understanding between the Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and CPN (Maoists) or (SPAM) was concluded on Nov 22, 2005 for democracy, peace and advancement. The political journey ventured through Peace Accord, Interim Constitution (IC), Interim Parliament (IP) and Interim Government (IG) and fell into peril, consequently the agenda on Constituent Assembly (CA) election, establishment of FederalRepublic, and the forward looking economic and social transformation that has been agreed by both parties have not been implemented. This has ensnared the entire peace process towards impasse. The present critical situation calls to review all the earlier peace agreements and conclude new political unity based on new grounds.

1. Overview

§The 19-day long Popular Movement resulting from the unity of the Maoists, who had been waging 'People's War' against feudalism and monarchy since 11 years, and the SPA, waging peaceful movement against the absolute monarchy, based on the 12-point Understanding ousted the king from power. The constitutional parties went against the 12-point Understanding and merely took up restoration of Parliament and pushed aside all the other agendas, diverting the establishment of republic away from the doorstep.

§After some hustles with the SPA, on June 16, 2006, the 8-point Agreement was concluded for democracy, peace and advancement. Again passing through ups and downs, on Oct 8, 2006 a political consensus was reached with the SPA. On Nov 21, 2006, the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) was signed with the government and the confinement of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the government army into cantonments and barracks, respectively took off. The IC was proclaimed by the IP on Jan 15, 2007. The conflict management and political advancement, absolutely through the internal efforts, without any outside involvement, is a unique model for the world.

§CA election on mid-June 2007 was the focused purpose of the Understandings and Agreements along with the IP and IC. The violent and destructive movement in Madhes, through forces that were not in existence prior to signing of the accord, were intentionally designed and instigated by the reactionary royalist, domestic and foreign forces to disrupt the peace process including CA election. The Gaur massacre was the climax of the counter-revolutionary forces.

§Reacting against the counter-revolution, Maoists entered into the government on March 31, 2007 expressing its solemn commitment to the peace process. The CA election was dramatically deferred. The Maoists declared the deferral of the CA polls on schedule as a violation of the peace process through a note of dissent in a high-level meeting of SPAM. Maoists forwarded the 22-point preconditions because of the deferral of the CA polls, the conclusion of which is CA can not be confirmed until the monarchy exists and is meaningless unless full proportional electoral system is adopted. Maoists resigned from the IG on Sept 18, 2007 because these two preconditions were not met.

§On Nov 4, 2007 the Special Session of the IP on the motion of Urgent Public Importance by a simple majority passed the federal republic and proportional electoral system, which has placed the ball in the Nepali Congress's court.

2. Identification of the Key Problem

§There exist serious problems regarding the viewpoint of Maoists and SPA on peace process and political events. Although there are grave differences, SPAM has agreed to declare federal republic, which is the essence of all the Understandings and Agreements, IC and IP, and the Minimum Common Program. All these documents include the clause 'forward looking restructuration of the state to address the problems relating to classes, ethnicities/castes, regions and gender', and that is the commitment of both the parties to create a new political mainstream. The status quest outlook of NC is the hinderance to the political impasse.

§The political Agreements and Understandings will not be implemented until the unitary state power, security mechanism, bureaucracy, socio-economic dynamism supporting the monarchist and feudalist system exists. The incapable leadership of NC is the principal element of political impasse.

§The special geo-political situation of Nepal has invited the foul play and involvement of foreign power-centers. The evidence is the Madhes incidents after signing of the Peace Accord. The issue of serious concern is the lack of national unity and understanding of the political parties when the sovereignty and geographical integrity of the country is in grave danger.

§The lack of stringent implementation of the provision of conflict management in the peace process and widening the gap between the conflicting parties are the principal problems. The poor management and care of the PLA, lack of minimum compensation to the Martyr's families, investigation of the disappearances, are the clear challenges of the peace process.

§Another obstacle is lack of understanding by the political parties that restructuration of the State is the restructuration of the security sector.

§Non-participation of various ethnic and regional liberation fronts, people's representatives, civil agitators in the peace process and political consensus resulted in the increase of violent incidents like Madhes. Another factor is the hegemony of the NC in power division in the IG. Lack of the programs affecting directly to and bringing positive change in the lives of the people during the interim period is another aspect of the problem.

3. Road map

There are two aspects to peace process: politico-ideology and procedural.

§Politico-ideology:

·High-level dialogue to minimize the differences for creation of a new political mainstream, recognizing the differences between the parliamentarian parties and Maoists, and realization of the essence of the peace agreement by both;

·Re-commitment of both the parties to establish federal democratic republic abolishing feudalism and monarchy;

·Resolution to National Unity for promotion and protection of Independence, Sovereignty and Geographical Integrity;

·Build common understanding on proclamation of republic and CA election to be held as early as possible;

·Build consensus through a serious dialogue of the concerned actors on a uniform model of the proportionate electoral system;

·Restructuration of the security sector through democratization of Nepalese army and integration of the PLA; and

·Socio-economic transformation policies, based on peace accord and IC, to be implemented stringently.

§Procedural:

·Formation of a High-Level Task Force consisting of both the sides to review the contents and implementation and recommend amendments and/or revision to all the Agreements and Understandings;

·An extensive political conference of democratic political forces like castes, ethnicities, regions, madhes, women, dalit, muslim, minorities, professionals, civil society representatives to end the political impasse;

·If necessary, effort to change the government leadership also to maintain the unity between the peace process and political parties;

·Rigorous implementation of the resolutions of the IP on republic and proportionate electoral system;

·A State Restructuration Commission to Management and care of PLA, distribution of compensation to Martyr's families, and treatment to wounded, a High-Level Commission to investigate to the disappearances, a Land Related Commission and Corruption Investigation Commission as per the22-point preconditions forwarded by Maoists;

·Dissolution of the one-sided Peace and Reconstruction Ministry and formation of a powerful Peace and Reconstruction Commission;

·Reformation of IG through re-division of power and responsibility in a new way; and operate the government based on the minimum common program; and

·Build political consensus and environment conducive to mutual-confidence prior to declaring new date for CA election, and the State and all the political forces to be unified to execute it.

Conclusion

Part three of the CPA has 13 points dealing with the letter and spirit of the conflict management. The first one covers political, social and economic transformation, but nothing of substance has been done. Similarly, the second states to conduct CA polls by mid-June 2007 in a free and fair environment, but the date was postponed affecting the sovereign rights of Nepali citizens. At first, the date was deferred for two weeks. As Maoists joined the IP and then IG, the Election Commission (EC) declared it not possible to hold the election because it would require at least 110 days preparing the election. The statement was made by the EC instead of the PM or the government, and was under fire from all quarters. Maoists alleged that the domestic and foreign forces played behind the postponment fearing they would win. It also wrote the note of dissent in the High-Level Meeting, but agreed to hold election on Nov 22. The government deferred the date of the election three times without an excuse to the people nor did it resign based on morality. The third point deals with seizing and transferring the property of the late King Birendra and family to a Trust, which is partially fulfilled. Similarly, the property of King Gyanendra kept foreign banks on abroad clandestinely and those transferred from Birendra have not been made public. The property hukum baks (granted) to the persons for nepotism and favoritism during the regime of Tribhuvan, Mahendra and Birendra is not known.

The fourth tackles the respect of human rights, competitive democratic system, sovereignty inherent in Nepalis, constitutional balance and control, rule of law, social justice and equality, etc. but people's right to life, liberty and security are violated day in and day out. The INSEC, local human rights organization, reports that 234 people were killed, of which 12% and 9% were attributed to the government and the Maoists respectively in the one-year tenure of Peace Accord. Similarly, the Maoists abducted 64% of persons out of 772 cases in the last year. In the Central region only (10 districts of Madhes), 82 persons have been killed within the six month period. In a year period, 41% Nepal suffered from either general strikes or valley strikes, regional strikes and district strikes.

The fifth consists of ending the unitary and centralized structure of State, which continues until date and lacks federal and inclusive character. The State restructuration process based on class, caste, sex, language and regionalism has not been initiated. The sixth stipulates to end all kinds of feudalism by developing minimum common program, but nothing has been done. The seventh deals with ending feudal land ownership and executing scientific land reform, which has not taken a step ahead. The eighth one relates to promoting national industries; is it not due to this that many industries are being closed and quite a few joint venture companies are quitting? The ninth point deals with citizen's rights to education, health, housing, employment and food security. Nothing has been done to achieve these, even during the Dashain Festival the people in the Mountain regions had no food to eat. The tenth point states economic and social security for the disadvantaged groups, which has remained in paper. The eleventh one states to meet strong action against corrupt individuals, which has remained hypothetical, because the main alleged culprits are still in power in government, bureaucracy and so on. The twelfth one calls for creating a common development concept for the nation's economic and social transformation. The thirteenth deals in employment and professional rights.

Part 4 deals with Arms and Armies Management. UNMIN is conducting second round verification of Maoist PLA confined in the cantonments, but progress is in snail motion. Nothing, not even policy development, has been implemented towards democratization of the Nepalese Army and integration of both the armies into a National Army. It was decided to provide the facilities to Maoist PLA equal to the Nepal Army, but they received the allowance for only four months during the one-year period.

The part 5 consisting of demising through neutralizing and eliminating the mines within 60 days has only been tried as a model, the rest are as they are. It also deals with the Cease Fire Monitoring Committee that remains in the document only. Similarly, it has stopped the practice of forced extortion and taxes (cash and kind) against law, which has not stopped. In recent months, there has been a frequent report of extortion from both local and foreign groups, although the Maoists claimed voluntary contribution. It also states to release the cadres from custody within 15 days of the signing of the accord, to which only high-level leaders were released and many still remain to be released. The government has not taken any steps to get the one and a half dozen Maoist cadres imprisoned in Uttar Pradesh, India. It also states to declare or notify the families the whereabouts of the disappeared within 60 days, but no one has been declared or notified yet. On the issue of rehabilitation and relief to the victims of war, it calls for forming of a National Peace and Rehabilitation Commission, which has been established in name but is defunct. A high-level Truth and Reconciliation Commission was targeted to be formed to address grave human rights violations and abuses during the armed conflict, but in vain. The pledge to reestablish the development infrastructures destroyed and respectfully rehabilitate the displaced people during the war has merely taken tortoise steps.

Maoists are pressuring towards immediate implementation of the federal structure of governance and full proportionate electoral system (resolved by the IP by simple majority). The NC not only has caste vote against these agenda in the Special Session of the IP, but also meetings of NC's Central Committee and Parliamentary Committee declined to implement the directive of the IP. The resolution requires 2/3 majority in the IP to revise the IC. Some pro-monarchial individuals of NC stated that they would go against the party whip to caste vote for the revision. Maoist leaders have declared to change the government leadership through the streets saying budho goru le gai ogatnu mildaina (remove the old bull overtaking the cow). The gap between the two sides is ever-widening and reaching critical point - initiating political cyclone ‘segregation of the conflict state III’, which indicates messing of the CA polls. The Maoists have given top priority to declaration of a republic rather than CA polls.

Briefly, only 10% letter and spirit of 10-point peace accord has been implemented, which resulted a huge level of frustration in all tiers. More frustration is found in the Maoists activists due to leaders have started to lead luxury lives spending most of the time in Kathmandu and other urban centers.Activists are living with very poor conditions with limited resources and contact with leaderships. Such frustration is leading to more abduction to the opponents often owing to personal retribution rather than wider political motive. On the other side, as they are receiving an enormous pressure to resume people’s court (kangaroo court) and people’s government - ‘parallel government in district and local levels’ similar to before peace accord. Reestablishment of these have in some cases already begun. Indeed, the political crisis and uncertainty at the central level, has given some Maoist sectors fertile grounds to recommence them. Dr. Baburam publicly stated that if the House Directives could not be implemented, they would form parallel government both horizontally and vertically with haste, that finally opens the ground of urban warfare or people’s agitation backed by the PLA leaving their cantonments. If such happened, the violent, non-violent and criminal groups would be fleeing to India for their secure terrain, effecting the security situation of India. The nation shall lose its opportunity to materialize the peace process through the people’s fresh mandate. At this instance, the nation and people in general would be defeated again and only the weapons traffickers, traders and manufacturers, opportunists and conformist leaders and pro-monarchial forces would benefit.

November 22, 2007 is the date set for the CA election. As the election could not be conducted on the scheduled date, the legitimacy of the IG, IP, constitution and peace accord have failed. Nepali Congress (NC) Mahesh Acharya says, “All three parties – the state, the Maoists and the UNMIN, involved in the ongoing peace process failed to play the desired role for effective implementation of the CPA.”

In this condition, there is a big question mark to zeal and zest of people for peace, security, development and forward-looking change, just as Professor Johan Galtung writes: "Where nothing has been solved the violence will recur, after some time."

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Currently Nepal has been suffering with pathetic transitional crisis and ethno-regional insurgency. In the meantime, we got threshed by bonus terrorism in Nepal, named as administrative terrorism. This time principal actors are our cabinet and public service commission who are going ahead to add new style of terrorism in Nepal. Therefore, we Nepalese people have to involve ourselves directly in the counter attack to get rid of such administrative terrorism otherwise Nepalese administrative software mechanism /bureaucracy will collapse functionally and structurally very soon.

Pitch Contour of Administrative Terrorism:

By Nepal Government:

Recently Nepal Government haphazardly started to populate 2 secretaries each in six ministries without having any vision, job analysis, need assessment, research and analysis. The most remarkable is, this outdated approach was already adopted decades before but doomed to failure. Though, our cabinet overlooked all these fact and decided to go forward as per their personal interest without caring professional and administrative rationale customs. Actually, these postings were made to fulfil the interests of their political puppets that are philosophically considered as major footstep of administrative terrorism.

Especially Civil Servants are being ignored and mistreated by security mechanism and guardian apparatus of state; they do not offer any kind of significant special opportunity for professionalism, security measure or welfare facilities to protect the career, life, liberty and freedom of civil servants. Thus the major spheres of civil services are terrorized by custodian state’s mechanism.

By Public Service Commission:

The recently published vacancy by Public Service Commission of Nepal is an expression of support toward dead royal law and oppose of democratic changes. I would say in direct language it is a colossal disobeys of the existing constitutional provision and state/parliamentary commitments concerning the recruitment inclusion policy of Civil service.

Public Service commission challenge the verdict of “Rule of Law”. They advertised vacancy as per royal civil service act/regulation and completely ignored the newly passed civil service act. Most remarkable point is our civil service act is recently passed by parliament and regulation is still under process.

Existing and potential civil servants are under serious confusion, whether they should follow the dead royal laws or newly passed Civil Service Laws.

Questions to the concerned legal and administrative experts:

-Is there any method or legal treatment to revoke the advertised illegal vacancies that is opened under the clauses of dead royal civil service act and regulation?

-The advertised vacancies are also against the sprit of Inclusion commitments and agreements that were made by state with various women, political, ethno & regional groups and parties.

-Or should we need to go for another administrative revolution on road and street like other terrorist groups?

-Are there any possibilities to file a case in public service commission board or Supreme Court through our embassies or diplomatic missions?

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Alok Bansal is a security analyst currently working as research fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), one of the oldest and largest Indian think tanks working on security issues. He has published books on 'Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.' His book on Balochistan is currently under publication.

The elections for the Constituent Assembly in Nepal scheduled for November 22 were postponed again as the Maoists insist that the state be declared a Republic and the elections be held on fully Proportional Representation (PR) system.

The interim parliament of Nepal recently passed these two resolutions, which were facilitated by Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) (CPN-UML), a constituent of the Seven Party Alliance, joining hand with the Maoists. The elections had earlier been postponed in June, and the renewed demands from Maoists and their threat to take to the streets to disrupt the elections if their demands were not met have forced yet another postponement.

While an overwhelming majority of Nepal’s population reportedly believes that the monarchy does not have any future in Nepal, there is disagreement over whether it should be abolished before or after the elections.

But the implementation of PR for the elections is a far much more complex issue, which has split in the Seven Parties Alliance. The elections were earlier scheduled to be held partially on the basis of PR and partly on first past the post constituency system like in India. The CPN (UML) has joined hands with the Maoists and threatened to seek a change in government if the resolutions are not implemented.

But according to the prime minister, the proposals require constitutional amendment and therefore a two third majority, which is only possible with the support of the largest political party in the parliament - Prime Minister Koirala’s Nepali Congress.

The genesis of the demand for PR lies in the fact that the parliamentary democracy that has existed in Nepal for last decade and a half has been highly flawed. By way of ‘gerrymandering’ (a form of redistricting in which electoral districts or constituency boundaries are manipulated for an electoral advantage) it gave disproportionately high representation to certain regions of the state while denying the people living in Terai Region their rightful share in governance.

As a result the governments that were constituted did not adequately represent the Madhesis or the Hindi speaking residents of Terai, who constitute close to half the population of Nepal. Besides Madhesis, the people from lower end of the social spectrum in the hills as well as in Kathmandu valley, including Janjaatis also did not get adequate representation in parliament. By seeking proportionate representation, the Maoists are hoping to regain their lost vote bank in the Terai.

Of late, a number of Maoists from the Terai region led by Jay Krishna Goit and Jwala Singh broke ranks with the Maoists to form the Jantantrik Terai Mukti Morcha, and have been indulging in acts of violence to ostensibly espouse the cause of the Terai region. This led to considerable erosion of the Maoist influence in the Terai, which besides being the economic hub is also the granary of Nepal. Proportional representation will ensure that not only Madhesis but also other deprived sections of the society who are not in majority in any particular region will gain representation in the Constituent Assembly. This will ensure that in any future constitution, the rights of these hitherto deprived sections of the society are protected.

But while there may be some merit in seeking the PR system for the elections to the Constituent Assembly, its provision in perpetuity for parliamentary elections is fraught with dangers.

First, this will generally result in fractured mandate, as none of the political parties enjoys or is likely to enjoy over 50 per cent popular support, and consequently the governments are likely to be unstable. Second, in ethnically divided societies PR generally works much like a separate electorate. Hardline parties representing specific ethnic groups or communities invariably espouse extremist views and seek votes from the members of their own community. These political parties do not expect or seek any votes from across the ethnic or communal divide and as a result propagate hatred against other communities.

It might be relevant to examine the implications of PR in the case of Sri Lanka, the only South Asian country to have adopted it. In the ‘land of serendipity’, the promulgation of PR by President Jayawardhane in late seventies led to the aggravation of the ethnic divide and ultimately resulted in a full fledged ethnic strife. The PR ensured representation for hardline Sinhala political parties like Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), which led to the hardening of Sinhala position. These parties which propagate Sinhala chauvinism would have been wiped off in a first past the post constituency based electoral system but as they are seeking votes from their community alone they tend to take as hardline a stance as possible and manage to get some votes across the country.

On the other end of the ethnic divide, the moderate Tamil political parties like Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) were slowly eliminated after PR was introduced and the hardline Tamil groups which were propped up by various militant groups emerged stronger.

Not only this, all genuine multi-ethnic political parties which had support bases cutting across the ethnic divide, like Sri Lanka Sam Samaja Party, were totally marginalised. As a result, three decades of PR has given Sri Lanka a totally divided polity where barring a miniscule elite there are absolutely no links between the two main ethnic groups and there is total absence of trust between the two communities. In every election the fringe parties on the extreme ends of the ethnic divide propagate and seek votes on a highly communal agenda and after the elections these parties hold mainstream political parties hostage to their own ideology. As a result despite an overwhelming majority of moderates, the state has not been able to bridge the ethnic divide.

Nepal has been facing violence in the Terai region since January and Madhesis have been protesting in thousands against perceived oppression by the Kathmandu elite. The intensity of their movement has caught the Nepali government off guard, with a number of militant groups emerging to espouse the Madhesi cause.

Since January, the ethnic divide between the hill people and Madhesis has been growing and the introduction of PR would make it permanent, as extremist Madhesi groups would gain at the cost of moderate leaders. Besides this, even communal as well as divisions along caste lines will get accentuated if PR is accepted as the norm for future parliamentary elections.

At the moment there is strong support for PR amongst the deprived sections of population but institutionalising it will make Nepal a den of instability. As it is years of conflict and turbulence have weakened all the institutions of state including the Army, and prolonged instability may be suicidal for the Himalayan State.

Bcc:Government of Nepal:Sub: Request for urgent action!The Prime MinisterThe Minister of Foreign Affairs,The Minister of Home AffairsThe Ambassador of Nepal to IndiaThe Missions/Consulates, European countries

Dear Mr. Ambassador,

This is Krishna Hari Pushkar, an officer of Nepal Government, Ministry of Home Affairs, currently based in Berlin, Germany and primarily involved in the field of peace and conflict research.

I would like to express my strong protest on the atrocious behavior of your mission towards the Nepalese families. As you might be acknowledged of numerous Nepalese families (more than 60) had applied for visa in your mission as per your certified process, although visa seekers are apparently in anguish and facing inhuman torture by your mission since last 6 months. The most disgusting is that, neither your mission granted visa nor issued refusal notice as per immigration clearance criterion. Mr. Ambassador, please be aware, they are agonized just because of your maladministration and corrupt visa policy approach which is serious matter to condemn.

I must state, your adapted policy and visa decisions process are completely against the EU family reunion policy, Spanish family reunion policy and of course, it is a black and white abuse of concerned human rights and convention's clauses. Additionally, your continuous manhandling behaviors with Nepali visa cases proved that how you dishonor your own state’s decisions, diplomatic prestige and international diplomatic norms. Moreover, I must draw your serious attention that all visa seeker families had submitted their applications only after receiving complete legal approval and permission from your concerned authorities of Spain. Though, your mission is blocking them since last 6 months producing haphazard superficial causes and mal-bureaucratic grounds, which strongly contrasts your own adjacent authorities in Spain too. The most ridiculous is, you are neither responding the visa application in proper decisive way nor implementing the decision of your own government. It is really beyond the diplomatic norms to understand, why your mission is so rude towards the Nepalese files? Could your present any justification?

I have personally consulted to your various authorities and inquired them about the processes. But, I was unable to find any causes of delay or objectionable matters issuing them visa. For your references, kindly consider the correspondences of our Honorary Nepalese Mission which has been seriously consulting, investing, writing frequently on these cases. However, I won’t deny any problematic circumstances in a particular file but most applicants meet the requirement as per Spanish Law. Therefore, could you issue your official version of Statement on such pathetic behavior towards Nepalese citizens?

Mr. Ambassador, you must know most of them are with children and belong to poor financial background, but your wicked visa policy is compelling them to suffer since last 6 months, why? What about Spanish commitment towards the family reunion policy? What about the Spanish assurances towards global women and children rights? Is it your national policy to push people of under-developed nations or dozens of women/children on the beggar-street? Please know they are combating for survival, food and lodge in Delhi, conclusively, getting tormented of your discriminatory and malicious bureaucratic behavior.

Mr. Ambassador, the women/children are neither able to stay constantly in Nepal nor in India, just because of your defective decision making approach. I have personally consulted with the victims. They told me their grief, they are somehow surviving and struggling in India with a little hope that one day they will be issued visa and would be able leave for Spain, where they would have opportunity to meet their respective parents and families or relocate their life in Spain as per approved legal decision by Government of Spain. I was shocked to see the children detached from the family, schooling, proper food, lodge and living less-life. They go everyday to the door of your mission and return without any verdict since last 6 months. So, it would certainly be consider as a crime. I think you are responsible authority to handle such problem, otherwise such cases could be transformed into other terrible forms or give birth to matters of conflict or terrorism as you see in plenty cases, you could observe lack and ineffective integration policy and such wretched visa matters are also sometimes specified as causes of terrorism and more in various incidents, so kindly be serious and find immediate solution for such disputes.

Moreover, Nepal and Spain vows good diplomatic relationship, so you do not have any personal right to erode the bilateral relationship by adopting such irrational visa policy, which is even against the legal arrangement of Spanish government. However, it is the matter of serious investigation. Your mission must understand that such discriminatory behavior could also affect the people2people and state2state relationship. Therefore, I protest your brutal and inhuman visa policy in strong terms. Kindly end the chaos of your decision and grant visa compensating them adequately. Mr. Ambassador, please consider your existing family visa policy is no more acceptable to any human beings. So, I request you for immediate and effective help and action to reform the existing criticized visa disputes. Thank you.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Kathmandu: Though Nepal's Maoists returned to parliament after waging an armed struggle for 10 years, the world is not yet ready to accept them as envoys. Four countries, to which the government appointed Maoist nominees as ambassadors, are still sitting on the 'agreemo' they have to send to indicate they have no objection to the appointees.

France, Denmark, Australia and Malaysia have demurred about the prospective Maoist ambassadors, saying they were uncertain about the status of the rebels.

Though the Nepal government sent the nominations when the Maoists were in the cabinet, in September, the rebels walked out of the ruling alliance thereafter, demanding King Gyanendra be dethroned immediately and a new electoral system be used for the upcoming polls. The polls are regarded as critical for the peace process.

When Koirala rejected their demands, the Maoists announced a series of protests with the intention of hindering the election, which forced Koirala to put off the polls indefinitely.Now that the Maoists are still outside the government and still opposed to the polls till their demands are met.

The rebels nominated one of their top women leaders, central committee member Pampa Bhushal, as ambassador to France. A former journalist from the Terai plains, Vijay Kant Karna, was chosen for Denmark. Ajay Sharma, a member of the Maoists' bureau, was named envoy in Australia. Rishi Ashikari was the Maoists' nominee for Malaysia.

The hosts' baulking is ironic, considering that the rebels had called a shutdown last year and remained engaged in a dispute with Koirala for nearly six months over the appointment of ambassadors, alleging that the prime minister had kept the key countries for his own party.

Nearly 18 ambassadorial posts lay vacant for over a year after the fall of King Gyanendra's regime in 2006 when the royal appointees were recalled by the Koirala government.